|
Build Out is Inevitable
By Dorothy MacFarlane
Posted Monday, April 23, 2007
 E-mail this page
 Printer-friendly page
 Sometimes, when I sit down to write this column, I have trouble getting started. I might have seen too many animals or plants to choose, or I might have no ideas at all. This time, I’m thinking about Kingston and all the construction and infighting and loss of open space. I went to town meeting, and listened to the threats of 40 B and 40 R. A build out is inevitable, but it is sad. Folks moved here to because of our character, in our people and our land, but soon there will be little land left. Nature abhors a vacuum, so they say, and builders abhor open land.
Many speakers at the meeting said they had been here a long time. So have I. I go back to the forties. I was born here, and lived the majority of my life so far in Kingston. I remember when there were farms around every corner. I was in 4H, and I had chickens, as did number of my friends. Over the years, we also raised a couple of pigs and a goat, too. I wonder what would happen today if kids put a chicken coop in the back yard. What would the neighbors say? Or heavens, a pig.
Nature in Kingston will change along with the increased housing. The 40 R is being built in a sand pit, so no loss of good habitat here, but it will add more than 10 % to our population at build out. I wonder what the balance of use and return will be.
There are fewer woods and fields for habitat than there were ten years ago, certainly a lot fewer than there were when I was born. There are so many more people than there were in the forties, and they all have to live somewhere. I am happy that the voting body wants to work with my family to buy the farm I write about. If it remains open space, that’s a few more acres that won’t be built on.
Nature will eventually balance out again, when Kingston has been built out. It will be different; fewer turtles and large birds, fewer foxes, deer and coyote. Does it matter? For some, like me, losing wild animals and plants is sad enough. But even if you don’t care about the animals and plants, remember, the resources they use are the same resources we need. We are crowding ourselves into ever smaller and smaller spaces, using up water, polluting air, and drowning ourselves in waste. At some point, it has to stop, or we will end up living like chickens in the coop.
Latest articles in Naturally Kingston
Maple Moon[Apr. 16, 2008] I wrote last month’s column long before that terrible car accident. I couldn’t know that it would appear in print at the same time as the accident. My heart goes out to all the families involved. I only mentioned driving and accidents because so many people are hurt on the roads, especially young people. I hoped my comments might make a difference to the way a driver thinks.
On the Road Again[Mar. 4, 2008] If you take exit 13 off the north bound lane of Route 3, you see a large, dead white pine on the far side of the exit. Look to the top, and quite often, you will see a red tailed hawk sitting in that tree. Recently, I saw three of them, one in the tree, and two circling above the highway.
Oh Deer![Jan. 29, 2008] This was a good month for nature watching, both here and at work. First, I saw an odd animal in my field. At first glance, it looked like a coyote, but it seemed too small. It looked more like a fox, but it had the wrong coloring for a red, and was too big for a gray. I can only assume it was a small coyote. Coyotes often cross the field, looking for mice and other animals to eat. They scare me a little, but usually they stay away from the house.
Cast Offs[Dec. 23, 2007] I found a remarkable rug recently, hanging on a stack of cement blocks behind the barn. The rug is an old, long discarded braided rug, and it has been completely overgrown by a deep emerald moss. The moss follows the braids, so the original pattern is still shows. It is still a beautiful rug, though now not very practical. Mosses are one of my favorite plants. When all the larger plants shut down for winter, mosses keep on growing. If the temperature is above freezing, even if the moss is covered by snow, photosynthesis goes on.
The Mulberry Tree Revisited[Nov. 27, 2007] I have written about our mulberry trees before. While in fruit, they are a riot of life, and during the summer months, I collect leaves to grow silk worms at work. When fall comes, the leaves turn a sort of yellow. It is not the color that is so spectacular; it is the way they fall. Early in the morning, after some signal only the trees know, the leaves start to fall.
All’s Quiet[Oct. 30, 2007] It’s been very quiet on the old farm lately. Summer is winding down, and fall is starting up. The young hawks haven’t been around for a while, and even the insects have stopped singing. I haven’t seen many animals going by, no foxes, skunks, or coyotes, but I know they are there. It is the same with deer; you have to be in the right place at the right time to see them. Or maybe it is not the right place. Deer are easily startled, and can be quite dangerous.
The Dry Summer...[Sep. 28, 2007] I've been through dry summers before, but I have never seen so many mature trees in trouble. Swamp maples, sugar maples, dogwoods, and birches have all started to dry up and drop their leaves. Some of them are turning intensely red or yellow first, but this is not normal fall color; this is a tree is severe distress. It is quite possible that some of these trees will not leaf out next year.
Woodchucks...[Aug. 27, 2007] Did you know woodchucks can climb trees? I know they can, because I saw one coming down out of my mulberry tree! There is a bumper crop of the little devils this year, and they eat everything, including my marigolds. The quantity of food available might be why the hawks raised two babies this year, a male and a female.
E-mail this page
Printer-friendly page
|
TKO MESSAGE BOARDS:
